Another large source of renewable carbon supplies is waste biomass. It consists of a wide range of materials and includes municipal solid wastes (MSW), municipal biosolids (sewage), industrial wastes, animal manures, agricultural crop and forestry residues, landscaping and tree clippings and trash, and dead biomass that results from nature’s life cycles. Several of these wastes can cause serious health or environmental problems if they are not disposed of properly. Some wastes such as MSW can be considered to be a source of recyclables such as metals and glass in addition to energy. Thus, waste biomass is a potential energy resource in the same manner as virgin biomass. (more…)

The relationship of gross national product per capita to energy consumption per capita for most countries of the world correlates very well with the status of economic and technological development. The World Bank defines developing countries as low-and middle-income countries for which the annual gross national product is $5999 or less per capita (World Bank, 1989; U.S. Congress, 1991). (more…)

The convention aims not only at stabilizing CO2 emissions in developed countries but also at ultimately reducing man-made CO2 emissions globally so as to stabilize the global climate. Environmental degradation cannot be singled out as an independent matter among various global issues. (more…)

During the US Presidential Election 2008 Campaign, the renewable portfolio standard was one of the main agendas for Presidential candidate, Mr. Barrack Obama. He suggested that in order to have an environment fit for living, one-fourth of the energy used in United States must come from renewable energy resources, such as wind, water, solar and so on. (more…)

The first step in categorizing potential benefits and costs is determining the relevant scope of the analysis. We have concluded that, at this level of analysis, it is appropriate to limit the scope to the benefits and costs associated with the types of electricity generation that offshore wind, waves, and ocean currents might be displacing. Therefore, we consider externalities associated with offshore alternative energy plus those associated with coal, natural gas, oil, nuclear, and conventional hydroelectric power. (more…)

There is a limited supply of energy resources for the world to use. There may come a time when the world faces a serious decrease in available energy. The small amount of energy we have at that time will not be enough for the populations of the world. Now is the time to consider planning towards our individual usages of energy. We need depend on natural energy such as solar energy as the new way to live. This will take a tremendous pressure off the surface energies we use today.

Many individuals consider the use of solar energy to be too expensive. (more…)